


Respects No One

by WizardSandwich



Series: Memento Mori [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Self-Esteem Issues, but only like kind of?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:07:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25718539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WizardSandwich/pseuds/WizardSandwich
Summary: There’s holopanel at the back of the bar. Sometimes, when it flickers, he can see the group photo Bluster had made them take before the war.
Relationships: Jazz & Toaster (Transformers), Prowl & Toaster (Transformers)
Series: Memento Mori [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860151
Kudos: 8





	Respects No One

**Author's Note:**

> rip me just making my faves sad

The first bot Toaster ever loves other than his siblings dies in a rain of ash. All he has left of him is a holoframe filled with pictures and a gold-lined datapad. Every single one of Prowl’s other belongings were lost with the Ark.

Bluster is three cities away in the long cooled ashes of Iacon. Karmen is deep in the tunnels below Vos. Both are radio silent. He has no one to mourn to save Blaster, but Blaster still refuses to speak to him.

It’s how he finds himself in the ruins of the bar he’d met Prowl next to. The walls are collapsed around him and rubble crunches under his pedes as he steps. Red Alert will kill him when he gets back to base, for every piece of metal and glass he’ll have to dig out of Toaster’s joints. But, for now, Toaster won’t worry about it.

There’s holopanel at the back of the bar. Sometimes, when it flickers, he can see the group photo Bluster had made them take before the war. Blaster is smiling and Karmen’s optics are still red. It’s a picture of a different time and place. He can’t say for sure whether it was happier or not.

“Thought I’d find you here,” Jazz says from behind him.

Toaster turns to face him. Jazz's mouth is set in a frown. He’s not looking at Toaster, examining a destroyed table instead. Toaster doesn’t know if it’s in case he needs to pull himself together or if there really is something of interest to be found.

“What are you doing here?” Toaster asks, because he can’t really think of anything else to say. Jazz has always been able to read him like an open book.

“What are you doing here?” Jazz parrots. “You’re going to get yourself caught.”

“Does it matter?” Toaster asks and he cannot keep the dejection out of his voice. “Prowl’s gone.”

“And there’s no one else who will miss me,” he thinks but doesn’t say. His amica’s dead and his siblings are estranged.

Toaster can’t identify the expression that crosses Jazz’s face but it’s gone in the next second. Jazz strides across the room, stepping leisurely over debris and furniture alike. Toaster is pressed against his front in the next moment. It makes him stiffen.

“Prowl may be gone, but this isn’t what he would’ve wanted for you,” Jazz murmurs into his audial. His grip tightens. “So don’t you dare give up on me, you hear? If you do I’ll drag you out of the Well myself.”

Toaster shakes. Jazz’s servo comes up to stroke Toaster’s helm kibble.

“Come on. Cry if you need to,” Jazz says.

Toaster tries not to, but he can’t help the sob that bubbles in his chest. Before he knows it, he’s crying all over Jazz and he can’t help but feel embarrassed. This is his superior officer. He’s also the only mech that Toaster has ever been in love with.

“There you go,” Jazz speaks softly, as if being any louder would scare Toaster away. Perhaps he’s right. Toaster feels more like a scared cybercat than a real mech at all. “You’re going to be okay,” Jazz promises him.

And maybe, just maybe, he’s right.


End file.
